About Global Footprint Network
Our mission is to promote a sustainable economy by advancing the Ecological
Footprint, a measurement tool that makes the reality of planetary limits
relevant to decision-makers.

The Story of Stuff

Annie Leonard’s Story of Stuff Highlights Ecological Limits

Don’t miss The Story of Stuff! It’s a new online video that explores the full life cycle of what we buy and the political-economic history of conspicuous consumption. It is smart, fast and fact-filled, informative and positive, and a great tool for raising awareness about ecological limits. The 20 minute film was produced by Free Range Studios and funded by the Tides Foundation and the Funders Workgroup for Sustainable Production and Consumption. You can watch it online at www.storyofstuff.com.

A recent UNEP report states that many of the major threats to the planet, such as climate change, the rate of extinction of species, and the challenge of feeding a growing population, remain unresolved and are putting humanity at risk. The Division of Early Warning and Assessment of the United Nations Environment Programme released this information and more in their “UN GEO4 report,” the Global Environmental Outlook 2007.

Global Footprint Network is pleased to announce the launch of a new research collaboration with the United Arab Emirates. The collaboration involves multiple stakeholders across the nation working together to improve the UAE’s National Footprint Accounts data and apply Ecological Footprint analysis to national policy in order to create a resource-conscious and resource-efficient nation.

Scottish Government Adopts the Ecological Footprint as a Performance Measure

The Scottish Government announced this November that it will use the Ecological Footprint as one of its performance measures as part of its innovative National Performance Framework. The Framework provides a unified vision and quantifiable benchmarks against which the government’s priorities are measured.

One of Scottland’s goals is to “... reduce the local and global environmental impact of our consumption and production “and to ‘reduce carbon emissions by 80% by 2050’. The Local Footprints Project, a Global Footprint Network partner, has just issued a consumption based analysis of Scotland’s Carbon Footprint, based on its 32 local authorities.

Steve Goldfinger and Ecuadorian officials sign agreement for a national Footprint review

The Footprint Steps Into Latin America

Global Footprint Network and the Ecological Footprint recently played a prominent role at Clima Latino, the largest conference on climate change ever held in Latin America. Hosted by the Community of Andean Nations (Ecuador, Peru, Colombia and Bolivia), the Republic of Ecuador, and the Ecuadorian cities of Quito and Guayaquil, the conference was attended by 1550 participants from 40 countries. Held consecutively in the two cities from 15-18 October, 2007, Global Footprint Network was represented by its Senior Scientist Steve Goldfinger, who gave a well-received plenary presentation and helped lead two workshops.

GDP is the most recognized indicator in the world, but a country’s high GDP does not always mean that its people are doing well. This is the reason that over 500 high-level economic, social and environmental experts met at the historic Beyond GDP International Conference in Brussels in late November. The European Commission, European Parliament, Club of Rome, OECD and WWF hosted this high-level conference with the objectives of clarifying which indices are most appropriate to measure progress, and how these can best be integrated into the decision-making process and taken up by public debate. The Ecological Footprint was featured as a central alternative to the GDP at the conference, most notably in a keynote address by WWF’s President and former minister of Nigeria, Emeka Anyaoku.

New Staff and We’re Still Hiring!

Global Footprint Network has been expanding rapidly this year and is pleased to have a number of new talented staff on board. Tina Batt has joined us as our Development Director, coming from 20 years of work with a California-based Land Trust, and Brad Ewing has joined us as an Associate on our technical team.